A LAND OF DROUGHT AND DESERT 



455 



desert shrubs and small trees on this 

 plain, was valuable for dyeing purposes. 

 The firm of Flores, Hale & Co. secured 

 a concession of a great tract of land, 

 built warehouses on Magdalena Island, 

 and established a flourishing industry in 

 gathering this plant and shipping it to 

 Europe. Eventually the discovery of 

 chemically produced dyes destroyed the 

 market for orchilla, and the possessions 

 •of the original company have passed 

 into the hands of "The Chartered Com- 

 pany of Lower California," an American 

 corporation, which owns a belt of land 

 about 15 miles wide along the coast from 

 23 0 30' to 29 0 north latitude, covering an 

 area of about 4,000,000 acres. This com- 

 pany has fine headquarters on Magdalena 

 Island and many cattle on the neighbor- 

 ing plains, from which they supply fresh 

 beef to vessels which visit the bay. Their 

 headquarter cattle-ranch is at Soledad, 

 50 miles north of the bay. We were 

 hospitably entertained at both places by 

 the resident manager, Mr. W. J. Heney. 



MAGDALENA BAY IS AN IDEAL HARBOR 



Magdalena Bay is a beautiful land- 

 locked harbor, with the narrow entrance 

 guarded by the headlands of high, 

 mountainous ridges extending back some 

 distance on Magdalena and Margarita 

 islands. The bay is about 15 miles 

 across, with low, sandy shores on the 

 eastern or mainland side and to the north 

 and northwest. Magdalena village is on 

 the western side of the bay, on the island 

 of the same name, at the head of Man-o'- 

 War Cove, a fine, sheltered nook formed 

 by a curve in the mountainous shore, a 

 few miles inside the entrance to the bay. 



The absolute shelter within this bay 

 and its delightful, sunny winter climate 

 has for years made it a favorite winter 

 practice ground for our Pacific fleet. On 

 some flat land half a mile from the vil- 

 lage on Magdalena Island are some low 

 breastworks where the sailors formerly 

 practiced shore-drill, but I was told this 

 had been stopped, owing to protests from 

 the Mexicans. 



While we were at Magdalena the Ger- 

 man training ship Falke came in and 



spent several days at both day and night 

 practice. The activity of the night prac- 

 tice on one occasion gave us an uncom- 

 fortable half hour when we were cross- 

 ing the bay in a small sloop. We were 

 about half way across when the search- 

 lights played over the water and firing 

 began at target rafts, apparently too near 

 our direction for comfort. However, 

 we must have been seen, for the firing 

 quickly ceased until we were well out of 

 line. The officers and crew were a fine 

 lot of men, and I was much interested 

 to note the keen desire of the commander 

 for information of every kind concern- 

 ing the country we had traversed. 



OUR PRESENT COALING STATION IN EOWER 

 CALIFORNIA IS NOT COMPARABLE 

 TO MAGDALENA BAY 



The sailing route of steamers up and 

 down the Pacific coast, whether to Mexi- 

 can ports or to Panama, passes within 

 sight of the entrance to Magdalena Bay, 

 thus making it an ideal point for a coal- 

 ing station. For many years the United 

 States has had a naval coaling station in 

 Lower California, located at Pichilinque, 

 on the easterly side of La Paz Bay. 

 This station is on the shore of an open 

 bay in the Gulf of California and can be 

 reached only by leaving the regular line 

 of travel down the Pacific coast, round- 

 ing the southern end of the peninsula, 

 and steaming up the Gulf a distance of 

 over 200 miles ofT the route to Panama. 

 An exchange of location of this station 

 from its present site to Magdalena Bay 

 would add greatly to its accessibility 

 and usefulness. The only drawback to 

 Magdalena Bay for this purpose is the 

 scarcity of fresh water. It may be added 

 that this place is about 1,100 miles from 

 San Francisco, directly on the route to 

 Panama. 



At the extreme southern end of the 

 peninsula the small town of San Jose del 

 Cabo, containing a population of about 

 1,600, is located in a fertile little valley, 

 where sugar-cane and other crops are 

 grown. This is the largest agricultural 

 town in the peninsula. Coasting steam- 

 ers stop here regularly, lying ofT the open 



